Description

In my opinion, the best of the 12a's at BTONP. Not as long as some, but by far the most sustained. It's on from the first bolt to the anchor.

Scramble up the ledge to begin. You may want a piece of gear to start, or haul your stick clip up to the ledge to clip the first bolt, or solo up the crack 2 moves to clip the bolt. Head straight up on awesome sculpted pockets and thin crimps. Long sequential reaches on incut but small holds lead up the ever steepening wall. Near the top the holds dwindle and the movement becomes more desparate. Stay left until its possible to snag the top edge of the cliff, then traverse right two feet to the chain anchor.

Obviously the dihedral crack is 'off', but I used it to get to the first bolt, and it seems, based on the chalk, that everyone else does the same.

An interesting and challenging climb. After clambering onto the starting shelf, you get 3 bolts of excellent sustained 5.11-. Sequency, but mostly sinker holds with a couple of decent shakes. From there it's a bolt and a half of difficult climbing that is essentially one long boulder problem with a clip in the middle - long reaches between small pockets and edges, technical feet, and a couple of big or desperately thin moves off crappy holds. By the time you latch the finishing ledge, you almost want to throw a heel up and mantle a top-out, rather than reaching right to clip the chains. Felt like solid 5.12 up top to me, at least if you follow the bolt line. Took some serious head-scratching and thrutching before I came up with a sequence that worked, and even then just barely. The crack and arete were not in the logical progression (or at least not past the 1st bolt, which isn't the crux), so I wouldn't call the line contrived. I'd certainly do it again.

A green or purple camalot would probably protect against a fall going for the first bolt (not likely, but you wouldn't want to tumble down off the starting platform).

I don't remember a roof or a traverse on Ralph's Revenge, which is the crack that makes up the left border of Adam Ant. And Adam Ant's anchors are way off route for RR as well... Are you thinking of Ralph's Dilemma, Ken?

Really fun route, I don't feel that the it detracts from Ralph's Revenge as the bolts are far off to the right, and Adam Ant certainly doesn't feel contrived as a face climb.

Could use its own anchors instead of the three chain mess it currently shares with Wailing Banshees.

Did you guys really climb (ie, redpoint) this route and give it 12a? Seemed significantly harder to me, maybe because I kept out of the corner and off the arete. Also, I'm kind of short and the crux is reachy. Anyway, I was psyched to top it out clean.

(edited) I've redpointed it. I think 12a is consistent with White Rock 12a's, though some of them seem harder and some seem easier than one another. Admittedly I use the crack before clipping the 1st bolt, which seems like the more sensible thing to do, though I've gone directly up to the 1st bolt on TR, which adds a little bit of 10+ or something to the beginning.

We moved the anchor shared by this climb and Wailing Banshees up about 5 feet. I think this provides a better and more aesthetic finish for both climbs, and allows for top-roping Adam Ant without taking big swings in the event of a fall at the crux.

On both routes, you now have to make a few more moves before clipping the anchors, but the original anchors bolts are still there, so you can clip them if you are feeling insecure (the climbing is relatively easy though). If you do choose to do this, it's probably a good idea to remove these draws on the way down if someone is going to top-rope the route. The anchor setup still isn't perfect, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to comment.

As for the rating, I feel like the route is probably 5.12a and comparable in difficulty to the other White Rock 5.12a's like Face Off and Monsterpiece Theater. But that's just my opinion.

Daniel, the new anchor setup is really nice. Thanks to you and James for making that upgrade.

The old anchor placement was on a horizontal plane which allows moisture to seep into the holes more easily. It was also in an awkward spot for both routes. Making the extra mantle moves up on to the platform adds some more fun and interesting moves after the crux. The new location also allows for better position through the crux for those TRing the route.